Dewan Diary - Day 4

By Y.B. Wong Ho Leng, ADUN for Bukit Assek

SUPP/Vincent Goh accused me for being “ce meh”, (hokkien, meaning “blind”) and was immediately on the receiving end, but he had no guts to retort when I said he was “ce meh”. Story later.

The meeting started punctually, which was good. Biodiesel became an interested topic. 5 questions on Jatropha was answered. There were many supplementary questions. More R&D is needed for the large scale planting of Jatropha, said Noroden/Semunjan. Hopefully, the production of biofuel, either from crude palm, Jatropha, bamboo, sugar cane or maize would become a reality one day (The last 3 items were not in the answer).

Dr George Chan answered Chong’s question on Sarawak International Medical Centre, only to provoke Dominique to jump up and say his question which stood as No. 123 in the Order Paper had to be answered also, because it relates to the same subject matter. The Speaker disallowed, but George Chan said he would answer “1 question”. So, as is the case with asking oral question, Dominique read out “123”. George Chan said “don’t be greedy la. I wish to answer you one question and yet you want 123”! George Chan was totally confused. He actually meant to answer 1 Supplementary Question from Dominique, not a main question, and certainly not 3 questions like 1, 2, 3. In the end, the “greedy” Dominique’s question No.123 was not answered. The Speaker moved to another as Dominique protested. “Lawyer buruk”, shouted from the other side. I helped out, saying that the DCM should answer but to no avail.

Voon’s question on tar sealing of roads was not well answered by DCM Jabu. Voon threw in a Supplementary Question. Still, the answer was not forthcoming. Depends on priority, other rural areas have to be taken care of, Jabu said. He tried to be technical, saying that Voon did not ask how fund is being used to tar seal these roads, but how long it will take to seal them. I was offended by this technical excuse. The DCM must answer the question, I said. Still, to no avail.

I have arranged Chin Sing and Tse Fui to speak today, which means myself and Violet, as had been the case before, will take the floor tomorrow. But Violet has been admitted to Normah Hospital this morning for observation. She should be ok. Just severe flu resulting in bulging eyes.

Debate today is limited to 30 minutes for each Speaker, and Vincent Goh was “lucky” to be called first. He regurgitated issues on land leases which had been concluded and therefore could not be reopened. I quoted the Standing Order. The Speaker told Vincent not to go into it, but can be at a tangent. Poor Vincent, without his script, he was totally lost in the woods. He was happy with the increased allocation and asked the Opposition not to highlight petty issues but to tell people about the increase. He allowed no one to interject, either for clarification or not. He would simply say, “the floor is mine”. Of course, I said he had no guts. When I tried to interject, Andy Chia thought he was clever and had the capability to help his more senior comrade. He was so wrong. “Memorandum Boy, Memorandum Boy, you sit down”, I called. He must be thinking why I call him ‘Memorandum Boy”. On the issue of the hike in SESCO’s industrial tariff, he led a group of leaders from Miri’s Chinese Chamber of Commerce to present a memorandum to Awang Tengah at the Miri Airport. The Memorandum of course ended up in the basket.

Vincent appealed to the state Government to undertake a roadshow to explain to rakyat the issue concerning land lease renewal. Does this surprise anybody? His Party had promised many a roadshows, only to see none. Of course, what roadshow is needed when the issue is settled that there would be no automatic extension to land leases!

Vincent thought that he could use the story of Snow White and the poisoned apple and the coming of a Prince Charming to revive the rot that the SUPP is in on the land lease. Who was Prince Charming? We asked. Did he think that DAP is the poison that Snow White took?

It was then that he delved into the issue which he thought he knew best – the congestion problem at Rajang Port Authority. He tried to explain but I once again invoked the Standing Orders to ask him to declare his interest first with RPA. The Speaker asked me, why? I said that he is the Chairman of RPA. As Vincent continued to read his speech, and as I insisted him to declare that he was Chairman, he retorted, “Not as “ce meh” as you.

Though I do not speak Hokkien, I knew what “ce meh” means. I took the offensive, quoted the Standing Order and demanded his withdrawal of the offensive and insulting language. I told the Speaker that I am not blind etc. The altercation went on for several minutes. The Speaker, thinking that he could come to rescue Vincent, said that as far as he was concerned, he heard the word “Chairman”, and since I am the Chairman of DAP, there was nothing wrong. Of course, that was wrong, and I condemned Vincent and SUPP for twisting what they said. I insisted that I put on record, that it was not I but Vincent who was “ce meh”. So it was recorded, without any protest from Vincent.

You can play with me, but don’t be “ce meh”. Some one must have been a ce meh to take me on.

As I moved to the canteen during tea break, many Ministers and other ADUNs were making fun of the phrase “ce meh”. George Chan and Dr Soon were very amused by the exchange between myself and Vincent. I had some light moments with them. On my way out, Abang Jo pointed to a few Chairman of certain Government bodies and agencies and introduced to me that these are “ce mehs”.

As I knocked off early at 11:40 a.m., Dewan was still on tea break. Chin Sing will be the 2nd to speak after tea break.

Ting’s family is in Kuching to see her speak for her people. That will be this afternoon.

As I arrived at the DUN in the afternoon I was met by Sebastian Ting (Political Secretary to Peter Chin/SUPP), Mdm Cheng Yi (Political Secretary to the CM) and Andy Chia. “No offence. Nothing personal”, I said. Yeah. “We are just doing our job”, replied the Memorandum Boy. Reporters of course saw the opportunity to record my lighter moments with them. “Are you competing with Chong on shouting?” Sebastian asked. James Masing joined in and advised me just to write in and he would answer all my queries. We all know there is no need to shout. At my age, I don’t “earn” in a shouting competition.

Our interjections are for the people of Sarawak. We are here to provide checks and balance. Without us, the Dewan would be a monologue and that would not not do justice to democracy.

Ting presented her speech at 3:30pm. The voice was too girlish to my liking, but we all have to hear through. All were quiet listeners for 20 minutes. Then Larry Sng decided to be smart and tried to interject. “I have only 30 minutes. I would like to continue”, said Ting. Larry sat down quietly as his colleagues at the front bench glanced to my direction. So did the Speaker. I thought they might be thinking, “The Patriarch is here! Don’t bully. That hornet can sting!”

Ting finished by suggesting the appointment of Fatimah to be DCM, this, in order to show more recognition to women. Fatimah thanked Ting but the uneasiness was most apparent in the Speaker who kept shaking his head. James Masing couldn’t help but laugh. Naughty Ting. But that is the way to go about it. There are ways to learn something.

So many YBs were down with flu and many were coughing like mad. On the DAP bench, Chong, Chin Sing, Violet and I all got it. Violet was discharged this afternoon. It happened that she was allergic to certain medication she took.

Dominique was seen standing up 6 to 8 times but the Speaker did not “see” him. Dominique said he had become transparent, as he was in the bad books of the Speaker. It is tough to be a lone ranger.

We knocked off early, 5:30pm, and Dominique still had to try his luck to catch the eye of the Speaker. Tomorrow’s speech for me will surely be limited to 20 minutes, so I will have to be concise, but that was not my specialty.

We adjourned for a discussion at the executive floor of the Kuching Hilton. There are still work to be done.